Getting Started Guide - qualifications.pearson.com · The specification and Sample Assessment Materials have been developed in consultation with the languages community – subject

Getting Started

Guide

GCSE (9-1) Japanese

Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9-1) in Japanese (1JA0)

© Pearson Education Ltd 2017. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.

Getting Started: GCSE Japanese 2017

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. What’s changed? 3

2.1 What are the changes to the GCSE qualification? 3

Changes to content and assessment requirements for GCSE Japanese 3

Changes to Assessment Objectives 3

2.2 Changes to the Edexcel GCSE Japanese 5

Specification overview 5

Changes to specification content 6

3. Planning 8

3.1 Planning and delivering the course 8

3.2 Suggested resources 8

3.3 Delivery models 9

4. Content guidance 10

5. Assessment guidance 15

5.1 Implications of linear assessment 15

5.2 Paper 1 15

5.3 Paper 2 16

5.4 Paper 3 17

5.5 Paper 4 17

5.6 Non-examination assessment 18

1. Introduction


1

1. Introduction

The Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1) in Japanese has been developed to

help students of all abilities progress and develop a passion for languages, through

culturally engaging content.

Key features of our GCSE Japanese

The specification and Sample Assessment Materials have been developed in consultation

with the languages community – subject associations, academics and advisors, and

hundreds of teachers and students. Drawing on feedback at every stage, the Edexcel

specification has been developed to be an engaging and inspirational course of study

that will enable your students to manipulate and use the target language effectively,

independently and creatively, so that they have a solid basis from which to progress to

A level or employment.

The 2017 specification has been built on the following key principles:

Engaging and popular topics

Our specification includes both familiar and new topics that you have told us you like

and that motivate your students.

Manageable content

Our content has been structured across five themes. This flexible programme of study

allows time for a focused revision period at the end of the course.

Content and assessments that provide an engaging real-world focus

The authentic situations and stimuli enable students to see language in context and

learn about the culture of the target language country. Our assessments allow for

spontaneity and test grammar, as well as providing plenty of opportunities for students

to apply their knowledge independently, creatively, and in authentic situations.

Straightforward assessments that are accessible to all students

Special care has been taken to ensure that all our papers are clear and concise and,

where appropriate, questions feature scaffolding to help all students progress through

the assessments confidently. All papers are structured so that they are progressive in

their level of demand, with the most demanding question being the final question in the

paper. Translation tasks are progressive in their level of difficulty and are of appropriate

demand at each tier.

Carefully selected texts

We have worked closely with teachers and expert practitioners to ensure we include

interesting and relevant texts at the right level for learners at each tier, and that will

encourage the use of a wide range of texts in the classroom.

Clear and precise assessment criteria

Our mark schemes have been trialled with sample student answers to ensure they

reward students appropriately and that it is clear what is expected of learners at each

band.

1. Introduction


2

Continuous progression

Our content builds on the understanding developed at Key Stages 2 and 3 while also

ensuring that learners new to the subject are appropriately supported, and provides a

firm foundation for students to make a smooth transition to A level.

Support for the new specification

This Getting Started guide provides an overview of the new GCSE specification, to help

you get to grips with the changes to content and assessment, and to help you

understand what these mean for you and your students.

We are providing a package of support to help you plan and implement the new

specification.

● Planning: In addition to the section in this guide, a Course Planner, and Schemes

of Work that you can adapt to suit your department, are available.

● Understanding the standard: example student work with examiner

commentaries.

● Tracking learner progress: specimen papers to support formative assessments

and mock exams.

● Personal, local support: a network of leading practitioners across the country,

providing online and face-to-face training events.

● Teaching and learning materials: a range of guides containing practical

approaches to areas such as understanding rubrics, using literary texts,

incorporating culture and answering questions in the target language.

These support documents are available on the GCSE 2017 Japanese pages on the

Edexcel website: https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-

gcses/japanese-2017.html

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/japanese-2017.html

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/japanese-2017.html

3. Planning


3

2. What’s changed?

2.1 What are the changes to the GCSE qualification?

GCSE Japanese specifications are changing for first assessment in 2019:

● The new 9–1 grading system will replace A*–G.

● There will be no controlled assessment component: all assessment will be

through external examinations.

● All papers will be set and marked by the awarding organisation. This includes

both speaking and writing examinations.

● The speaking test will be conducted by a teacher in the centre with materials

supplied in advance and retained in secure conditions.

● Assessment weightings will be 25% per skill.

● Papers will be tiered but there will be no mixed tier entry. Students will be

entered for a single tier across all papers, either Foundation or Higher.

Changes to content and assessment requirements for GCSE

Japanese

The content requirements1 for GCSE Japanese have been revised. All awarding

organisations’ specifications for GCSE Japanese must meet these criteria. Full

details of the subject criteria can be found at

www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-modern-foreign-languages.

● The reading paper will contain authentic stimuli, including some extracts from

relevant abridged or adapted literary texts.

● There will be short translations from and into Japanese.

● The compulsory topics will be linked to: Identity and culture; Local, national,

international and global areas of interest; Current and future study and

employment (see Changes to specification content on page 6).

Changes to Assessment Objectives

The GCSE Japanese Assessment Objectives have been revised for the new

specification. Each of the four assessment objectives now carries a weighting of

25%. The Assessment Objectives are given in the table below.

AO1

25%

Listening – understand and respond to different types of spoken

language

AO2

25%

Speaking – communicate and interact effectively in speech

AO3

25%

Reading – understand and respond to different types of written language

AO4

25%

Writing – communicate in writing

1 Modern foreign languages GCSE subject content (DfE, 2014) www.gov.uk/government/publications

Reference: DFE-00348-2014

http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-modern-foreign-languages

3. Planning


4

Relationship of Assessment Objectives to components

The assessment of each of the Assessment Objectives is contained exclusively in

the four examination papers.

The four components of the qualification are:

• Paper 1 Listening and understanding in Japanese

• Paper 2 Speaking in Japanese

• Paper 3 Reading and understanding in Japanese

• Paper 4 Writing in Japanese

These four papers are compulsory, must be sat in one terminal session, and make

up the GCSE qualification.

Use of English and Japanese in the examinations2

In listening (AO1), there is no requirement for students to produce written

responses in Japanese.

In speaking (AO2), students will be required to express themselves solely in the

assessed language.

In reading (AO3), students will have to respond to questions set in English.

In writing (AO4), students will be required to express themselves solely in the

assessed language in response to questions set in English.

The table below provides a comparison with the relationship of Assessment

Objectives to examined components in GCSE Japanese 2012*.

2JA01 (2012) 1JA0 (2017)

weighting weighting

AO1 Listening 23% 25%

AO2 Speaking 27% 25%

AO3 Reading 23% 25%

AO4 Writing 27% 25%

*N.B The comparison is with GCSE full course; there will be no short course

available in new GCSEs in Modern Languages.

2 Modern foreign languages GCSE subject content (DfE, 2014) www.gov.uk/government/publications

Reference: DFE-00348-2014

3. Planning


5

2.2 Changes to Edexcel GCSE Japanese

Specification overview

The Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (91) in Japanese consists of four

externally-examined papers based on the following skills: listening, speaking,

reading and writing.

Students must complete their speaking assessment in April/May and all other

assessments in May/June in any single year.

Each paper is available at Foundation or Higher tier. Students must be entered

for a single tier across all papers.

The use of dictionaries is not permitted. For Paper 2 this includes during

the preparation time.

Paper Title Length of assessment Summary of assessment

Paper 1

25%

50 marks

Listening and

understanding

F = 35 minutes including

5 minutes’ reading time

Multiple-response and short-

answer open-response

questions.

Questions are set in English. H = 45 minutes including

5 minutes’ reading time

Paper 2

25%

70 marks

Speaking F = 79 minutes (plus 12

minutes’ preparation

time)

Students will be assessed

through three tasks:

• a role play

• questions based on a

picture stimuli

• a conversation.

H = 1012 minutes (plus

12 minutes’ preparation

time)

Paper 3

25%

50 marks

Reading and

understanding

F = 50 minutes Question types will comprise

both multiple-response and

short-answer open-response

questions, and one

translation into English

question.

Students must answer all

questions from Sections A

and B.

H = 1 hour 5 minutes

Paper 4

25%

60 marks

Writing F = 1 hour 15 minutes There are three open-

response questions and one

translation into Japanese.

H = 1 hour 25 minutes Two open-response questions

and one translation into

Japanese.

Full details of the assessment can be found in the Japanese GCSE 9-1

specification:

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Japanese/2017/specifi

cation-and-sample-assessments/specification-GCSE-L1-L2-in-japanese-2017.pdf

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Japanese/2017/specification-and-sample-assessments/specification-GCSE-L1-L2-in-japanese-2017.pdf

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Japanese/2017/specification-and-sample-assessments/specification-GCSE-L1-L2-in-japanese-2017.pdf

3. Planning


6

Changes to specification content

The assessment of GCSE Japanese will be set in the context of the following

compulsory themes:

● Identity and culture

● Local, national, international and global areas of interest

● Current and future study and employment.

Following consultation with teachers and language and assessment experts, these

compulsory themes have been divided into five broad theme areas, giving the

opportunity for teaching one theme per term. These five themes are further

broken down into topics and sub-topics, all of which should be studied in the

context of both the students’ home country and that of countries or communities

where Japanese is spoken. They are designed to offer a motivating, enriching and

up-to-date context for the study of the Japanese language. Teachers should be

aware of the need to develop their students’ awareness and understanding of the

cultural life of Japanese-speaking communities in their selection of teaching

materials during the course of study, and in preparation for the final assessment.

For listening and reading assessments, the majority of contexts are based on the

culture and countries where Japanese is spoken. Students may also refer to the

culture of Japanese-speaking countries or communities in the speaking and

writing papers.

Our content principles

● A mix of familiar and new topics to support a wide range of interests.

● Topics encourage the teaching and learning of Japanese-speaking culture.

● Topics show how language can be used in practice.

● Topics facilitate progression from Key Stage 3 and to A level.

● Topics meet the requirements of the subject criteria.

The themes and topics are listed below:

Theme 1: Identity and Culture

Topics:

● Who am I?: relationships; when I was younger; what my friends and family

are like; what makes a good friend; interests; socialising with family and

friends; role models

● Daily life: customs and everyday life; food and drink; shopping; social media

and technology (uses of, advantages and disadvantages)

● Cultural life: celebrations and festivals; reading; music; sport; film and

television

Theme 2: Local area, holiday and travel

Topics:

● Holidays: preferences; experiences; destinations

● Travel and tourist transactions: travel and accommodation; asking for help

and dealing with problems; directions; eating out; shopping

● Town, region and country: weather; places to see; things to do

3. Planning


7

Theme 3: School

Topics:

● What school is like: school types; school day; subjects; rules and pressures;

celebrating success

● School activities: school trips; events and exchanges

Theme 4: Future aspirations, study and work

Topics:

● Using languages beyond the classroom: forming relationships; travel;

employment

● Ambitions: further study; volunteering; training

● Work: jobs; careers and professions

Theme 5: International and global dimension

Topics:

● Bringing the world together: sports events; music events; campaigns and

good causes

● Environmental issues: being ‘green’; access to natural resources

The final assessments at the end of the course will draw on the full range of these

themes and topics. Teachers are encouraged to refer to the Sample Assessment

Materials to see this exemplified.

3. Planning


8

3. Planning

3.1 Planning and delivering the course

GCSEs in Japanese are linear and 100% external assessment.

This specification has been designed so that the content is clear and manageable

for centres to deliver within the guided learning hours over a two- or three-year

period. Structured across five themes, our flexible programme of study allows time

for a focused revision period at the end of the course.

There is a range of possible ways of planning the delivery of the specification, and

centres will need to decide on a delivery model that suits their teaching methods,

school timetables and students.

The time allocated to each of the elements of the specification reflects the

weighting of that element. All skills have an equal weighting and are worth 25%

each in the final assessment, so equal amounts of time should be spent on each

skill when covering the five themes in the Edexcel specification.

The five themes are: Identity and culture; Local area, holiday and travel; School;

Future aspirations, study and work; International and global dimension. All

themes and topics must be studied in the context of both the students’

home country and that of countries and communities where Japanese is

spoken. There will be equal weighting between the themes in the assessment.

To prepare students adequately for this assessment, teachers should present and

exploit a range of vocabulary relevant to each theme listed, and build on the Key

Stage 3 Programme of Study, where appropriate.

3.2 Suggested resources

Below is a list of free support for the Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (91)

in Japanese (1JA0):

• Getting Started Guide for GCSE Japanese

• Editable Course Planner

• Editable two-year GCSE Schemes of Work

• Mapping guides comparing the 2012 and 2017 GCSE Japanese specifications

• ‘How to’ guides, including:

o Incorporating culture into the classroom

• Student guide

All planning and support materials can be found via this webpage:

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/japanese-

2017.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=Pearson-UK:Category%2FTeaching-and-

learning-materials

3. Planning


9

We will also be offering paid-for Professional Development courses on Delivering

the new GCSE MFL specification (91) to support first teaching and beyond, from

September 2016. Details about these will be published on our website in due

course.

We are committed to helping teachers to deliver our Edexcel qualifications and

students to achieve their full potential. To do this, we aim for our qualifications to

be supported by a wide range of high-quality resources, produced by a range of

publishers. However, it is not necessary to purchase endorsed resources to deliver

our qualifications. Endorsed resources from other publishers will be available at

www.edexcel.com/resources.

3.3 Delivery models

An editable Course Planner and example Schemes of Work covering a two-year

Key Stage 4 are available on Pearson Edexcel’s GCSE 2017 Japanese webpage.

These documents are based on the following principles:

• Three 12-week terms per academic year.

• A focused revision period at the end of the course – the summer term of the

final year of study would be used for revision and final examination preparation

for linear assessment and 100% final examinations.

• The number of hours allocated to GCSE Japanese each week will depend on the

individual centre’s timetable, but here an average of two hours a week has

been assumed as this fits with research carried out with schools, and fits 120

guided learning hours.

These delivery models are suggestions only and there are a number of valid ways

of structuring courses. The schemes of work show one of a number of possible

orders of topics and approaches to grammar coverage; these should be adapted

by centres to work for their individual timetables.

http://www.edexcel.com/resources

4. Content guidance


10

4. Content guidance

Teachers should refer to the ‘How to’ guides available on our website for support

with how to approach the content.

These guides feature pedagogical rationale, strategies and practical activity

suggestions to help with:

• Incorporating culture into the classroom

Ideas on how to approach the themes and for activities within these themes are

provided below. Note that these are suggestions only and are not prescriptive.

Theme 1: Identity and Culture

Topics:

• Who am I?: relationships; when I was younger; what my friends and family

are like; what makes a good friend; interests; socialising with family and

friends; role models

• Daily life: customs and everyday life; food and drink; shopping; social media

and technology (uses of, advantages and disadvantages)

• Cultural life: celebrations and festivals; reading; music; sport; film and

television

Suggestions for approaching this theme

The teacher could approach this theme through Japanese literature, music or

festivals. Research can be conducted into traditional celebrations in the Japanese-

speaking world.

Activity ideas

• Using literary texts to look at the life of culturally significant people to practise

talking about the past.

• Using poetry to expand ideas about friendship and develop vocabulary.

• Venn diagrams of adjectives to develop positive and negative relationship

adjectives.

• Agony Aunt-style letters from authentic sources dealing with family

relationships – these can be used as reading practice and then students can

write their own examples.

• Choosing famous Japanese people to use as role models and discuss.

• Using photographs to discuss aspects of daily life and encourage and develop

spontaneous speaking strategies.

• Practising role-play situations with the scenario of arranging to go out.

• Comparing shopping habits of UK consumers with those in Japanese-speaking

countries (online vs traditional, popular shops, spending patterns).

• Debating the advantages and disadvantages of social media, in order to

encourage spontaneous speaking.

• Students are allocated a traditional custom or festival to research in groups,

presenting their findings to the class.

4. Content guidance


11

• Discussion about preferred TV programmes or music through a diamond nine

activity, in order to encourage spontaneous speaking.

• Photographs of traditional festivals can be used to practise the picture-based

oral task.

• Using songs from websites such as YouTube.

Theme 2: Local area, holiday and travel

Topics:

• Holidays: preferences; experiences; destinations

• Travel and tourist transactions: travel and accommodation; asking for help

and dealing with problems; directions; eating out; shopping

• Town, region and country: weather; places to see; things to do


As well as students describing their own past holidays or planned future holidays,

teachers could approach this theme as a group task where students have to

research the type of holiday they would like to do. This could be confined to a

Japanese-speaking country which would then allow them to report back on travel

costs, accommodation available, activities on offer in the chosen resort and the

type of weather to be expected.

Another approach to accommodation and eating out could be to use authentic

resources from websites such as Trip Advisor to read about hotels and restaurants.

These can be used as reading comprehensions to extract vocabulary and phrases

and then students could write their own reviews of a restaurant or hotel.

Complaint letters to a hotel also allow students to use a great deal of imagination

as to what has gone wrong with their holiday accommodation.

Students could also collect literature about their own area and, from that, produce

a website or brochure to encourage Japanese-speaking tourists to visit. This topic

is a key area for role-play work.

Activity ideas

• Researching a Japanese-speaking holiday destination and planning travel,

accommodation and activities for a visit (use Google maps to take a virtual

tour).

• Reading reviews on Trip Advisor, etc. and students writing their own review.

• Writing a complaint letter to a hotel or restaurant.

• Using authentic hotel website information to work out the best accommodation

for different groups of people, e.g. a family with three children, a couple

looking for a romantic holiday, a single traveller, etc.

• Setting up role-play scenarios around the classroom for group / pair-work

activities.

• Spontaneous discussion about preferred types of holiday / accommodation.

• Advantages / Disadvantages chart for holidaying abroad or in their own

country.

• Survey about holiday requirements / preferences, leading to discussion.

• Watching tourism videos from Japanese-speaking areas or cities to extend

vocabulary and listening skills. Students could then produce their own

4. Content guidance


12

voiceover commentary to accompany photos of a Japanese-speaking area or

city, or their own area.

• Watching or reading weather forecasts online, or presenting their own.

• Photographs of holiday destinations can be used to practise the picture-based

oral task.

• Using information on the websites of important tourist attractions for reading

practice.

Theme 3: School

Topics:

• What school is like: school types; school day; subjects; rules and pressures;

celebrating success

• School activities: school trips; events and exchanges


When approaching this topic, teachers could use partner schools to enable

students to compare and contrast the school experience in each country. Many

Japanese-speaking schools have websites and this could provide an excellent

resource for authentic material. Particular features of schools in Japan could also

be opportunities for discussion.

Activity ideas

• Authentic resources in the form of blogs or letters discussing aspects of the

school system in Japan could be used as reading comprehension and stimuli for

discussion purposes.

• Research on Japanese school websites can produce timetables to compare the

school day.

• Setting up links with Japanese-speaking schools in order for students to pose

questions to their peers and report back on their answers, e.g. their opinion of

the longer school day, sport at school, etc.

• Students could draw up their own list of rules, either real or funny – this could

be done as a discussion task to promote spontaneous speaking.

• A list of pros and cons of school uniform could be drawn up and used in

discussion.

• Check Japanese school websites to compare the events and extracurricular

activities that are offered.

• There are a number of blogs on school exchanges on the Internet which can be

accessed to provide authentic resources for reading comprehension.

4. Content guidance


13

Theme 4: Future aspirations, study and work

Topics:

• Using languages beyond the classroom: forming relationships; travel;

employment

• Ambitions: further study; volunteering; training

• Work: jobs; careers and professions


Teachers may want to approach the topic through students’ own aspirations but

could also look at relevant websites to find resources describing others’

experiences, which will provide models for students to use in their own work.

There are a number of useful websites about training, which teachers may find

useful to source work for reading purposes as well as suitable photographs, and to

extend students’ vocabulary and comprehension skills. There are also websites

where students can read about the experiences of young Japanese undertaking

volunteering or taking a gap year.

Activity ideas

• Reading comprehension based on authentic material from websites such as

those above.

• Brainstorming positive and negative aspects of travelling during a gap year,

going to university or undertaking work experience.

• Using a video about students undertaking work experience as listening

comprehension.

• Writing an imaginative blog or report about volunteering.

• Using this topic as an opportunity to introduce and practise ways of saying

what students would like to do and why.

• Reading task to match descriptions of jobs to the job titles.

• Jigsaw task to reorder a text about a day in a particular job.

• Using an online platform to ask Japanese-speaking students about their career

/ future aspirations, and reporting back.

• Undertaking a role play based on an interview for a work placement or job.

• Spontaneous discussion on what students should do after finishing school. This

could be done as a diamond nine activity.

• Using websites to look at authentic job adverts in order to discuss the skills

that are required.

Theme 5: International and global dimension

Topics:

• Bringing the world together: sports events; music events; campaigns and

good causes

• Environmental issues: being ‘green’; access to natural resources


This is a new theme at GCSE which may not have been studied at Key Stage 3.

Teachers may again wish to access material on the Internet to support their

teaching of this theme. Posters and adverts for sports and music events could be

useful resources, as could blogs and newspaper reports about such events. School

websites also contain reports on school sports events.

4. Content guidance


14

Activity ideas

• Role-play buying tickets for sporting or music events.

• Group activity discussing the cost of attending music events.

• Writing a report on a sporting event.

• Watching a sporting event in the target language as a listening comprehension.

• Writing a voiceover to a sporting event video extract.

• Giving students a scenario in which they have a certain amount of money to

donate to a worthy cause. They each research a suitable charity and engage in

a group debate about which charity should benefit from the money.

• Using photographs of sporting events to engage in discussion (picture-based

task).

• Reading comprehension using publications about the environment from

Japanese-speaking countries.

• Writing about how environmentally friendly (or unfriendly) their home town is.

• Using links with a Japanese-speaking partner school to compare their town and

the Japanese town with regard to the protection of the environment.

• Using literary texts to expand vocabulary and writing their own poems (such as

acrostic poems) using any of the environment-related vocabulary.

• Use a Japanese music festival website for information about the event and to

express opinions about it.

4. Content guidance


15

5. Assessment guidance

5.1 Implications of linear assessment

This GCSE Japanese course is designed to be followed in a linear fashion. The four

components must be sat as terminal examinations at the end of the course.

Examinations will take place only in a summer session at the end of the course of

study (most often a two-year course) and there will be no opportunity for re-

sitting individual components. A candidate would be eligible to re-sit the whole

qualification (four components) at a future examination session.

5.2 Paper 1

Paper 1: Listening and understanding in Japanese

(Paper code: 1JA0/1F and 1H)

Written examination

Foundation tier: 35 minutes, including 5 minutes’ reading time; 50 marks

Higher tier: 45 minutes, including 5 minutes’ reading time; 50 marks

25% of the total qualification

Content overview

This paper draws on vocabulary and structures across all the themes and topics

(see pages 6–7).

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their understanding of standard spoken Japanese by

one or more speakers in a range of public and social settings. Students will

respond to multiple-response and short-answer open-response questions based

on a recording featuring male and female Japanese speakers.

Students must answer all questions in both sections.

There is no requirement for students to produce written responses in Japanese.

Foundation tier

All questions are set in English. The instructions to students are in English.

Higher tier

All questions are set in English. The instructions to students are in English.

4. Content guidance


16

5.3 Paper 2

Paper 2: Speaking in Japanese (Paper code: 1JA0/2F and 2H)

Internally conducted and externally assessed

Foundation tier: 7–9 minutes plus 12 minutes’ preparation time; 70 marks

Higher tier: 10–12 minutes plus 12 minutes’ preparation time; 70 marks


Content overview


(see pages 6–7).

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their ability to communicate and interact effectively

through speaking in Japanese for different purposes and in different settings.

There are three tasks which must be conducted in the following order:

Task 1 – a role play based on one topic that is allocated by Pearson

Task 2 – questions based on a picture stimulus based on one topic that is

allocated by Pearson

Task 3 – conversation based on two themes. The first theme is based on the

topic chosen by the student in advance of the assessment. The second theme is

allocated by Pearson.

The assessments are conducted by teachers in one session within a prescribed

assessment window and the recordings then submitted to Pearson for external

marking.

4. Content guidance


17

5.4 Paper 3

Paper 3: Reading and understanding in Japanese

(Paper code: 1JA0/3F and 3H)

Written examination

Foundation tier: 50 minutes; 50 marks

Higher tier: 1 hour 5 minutes; 50 marks


Content overview


(see pages 6–7).

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their understanding of written Japanese across a

range of different types of texts, including advertisements, emails, letters,

articles and literary texts. Students are required to respond to multiple-response

and short-answer questions based on these texts.

Students must answer all questions in each of the two sections:

Section A is set in English. The instructions to students are in English.

Section B includes a translation passage from Japanese into English with

instructions in English.

5.5 Paper 4

Paper 4: Writing in Japanese (Paper code: 1JA0/4F and 4H)

Written examination

Foundation tier: 1 hour 15 minutes; 60 marks

Higher tier: 1 hour 25 minutes; 60 marks


Content overview


(see pages 6–7).

Assessment overview

Students are assessed on their ability to communicate effectively through writing

in Japanese for different purposes and audiences. Students are required to

produce responses of varying lengths and types to express ideas and opinions in

Japanese. The instructions to students are in English. Character counts are

specified for each question. Students must answer all questions.

Foundation tier – three open-response questions and one translation into

Japanese.

Higher tier – two open-response questions and one translation into Japanese.

4. Content guidance


18

5.6 Non-examination assessment

There is no longer any centre-designed component in the assessment of GCSE

Japanese. The speaking test is, however, internally conducted by teachers in their

centres. The assessment materials will be provided by Edexcel in advance of the

examination period and it is required that they remain secure throughout the

examination period. Further information about access to the materials at the time

of testing and conduct of this component will be provided in due course.

References to third party material made in this publication are made in good faith.

Pearson does not endorse, approve or accept responsibility for the content of

materials, which may be subject to change, or any opinions expressed therein.

(Material may include textbooks, journals, magazines and other publications and

websites.)

Documents

Getting Started Guide - qualifications.pearson.com · The specification and Sample Assessment Materials have been developed in consultation with the languages community – subject